TODAY IN HISTORY
April 27, 1960: The Togolese Republic declares its independence from France. Commemorated annually as Independence Day in Togo.
April 27, 1961: The Republic of Sierra Leone gains its independence from the United Kingdom as the result of negotiations that had taken place the previous year. Commemorated annually as Independence Day in Sierra Leone.
April 27, 1978: The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, with the support of the Soviet Union, undertakes a coup against Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan that is known as the “Saur Revolution.” PDPA leader Nur Muhammad Taraki assumed the presidency after Khan’s execution on April 28, and mismanaged things so badly that his own party ousted and executed him in September 1979. That incident led directly to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 and, with few breaks, Afghanistan was in a state of war from then on until the US withdrawal in 2021.
MIDDLE EAST
LEBANON
The Israeli military (IDF) carried out multiple airstrikes in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Monday, the first time it’s attacked that part of the country since the start of the “ceasefire” on April 16. I hadn’t seen any reports of casualties at time of writing.
The New Arab’s Joe Macaron reports that the three week extension of the Lebanese “ceasefire” came with a major stipulation: the Lebanese government is supposed to have a “clear and achievable” plan for disarming Hezbollah by the time it expires on May 17. If it does not, and presumably the Israeli government will be the entity that determines whether the plan is in fact “clear and achievable,” then it seems that all bets will be off. There will of course be no discussion of an IDF withdrawal, or even an actual IDF ceasefire instead of whatever this is, until the plan is submitted.
